cover image HERE BENEATH LOW FLYING PLANES

HERE BENEATH LOW FLYING PLANES

Merrill Feitell, . . Univ. of Iowa, $15.95 (138pp) ISBN 978-0-87745-911-8

Feitell chronicles impulsive life decisions, crucial moments of self-reflection, lost loves and intimate connections in her skillful debut, winner of the Iowa Short Fiction award. In "Bike New York!" an uncertain groom-to-be half-mistakenly flakes on his friends' planned bike-a-thon/pub crawl/bachelor party, only to find himself peddling along with a teenage girl whose hopeful youth sparks a "shift in lighting, a re-alignment of compositions as he slipped from the point of focus in his own life." In the poignant "The Marrying Kind," a woman on the eve of her 33rd birthday endures the nuptials of her college love—who also happens to be the father of her unborn child. The gem here is the delightful "Our Little Lone Star," in which a slightly neurotic 62-year-old woman's encounter with "some kind of cowboy" inspires her to stop living a life of regret. There are some slight missteps: the familiar Thanksgiving meet-the-parents theme and a few heavy-handed metaphors weaken "It Couldn't Be More Beautiful," while "Such a Big Mr. England" relies too heavily on its frame of Princess Diana's death at the cost of developing more fully the character of a memorabilia collector watching his son slip away to a cold daughter-in-law. But the collection as a whole boasts confident, astute prose as Feitell explores life's surprising moments with generosity and truth. (Oct.)